Steel girders shore up Barnum Museum

Updated 8:55 pm, Friday, April 17, 2015

Three steel girders to support the roof of the historic Barnum Museum in Bridgeport, Conn. are hoisted through a third floor window, while traffic below on Main Street is diverted on Friday, April, 17, 2015. A June 2010 tornado caused structural damage to the 1892 building, and tropical storms Irene and Sandy added mud and water to the collection of artifacts. less

Three steel girders to support the roof of the historic Barnum Museum in Bridgeport, Conn. are hoisted through a third floor window, while traffic below on Main Street is diverted on Friday, April, 17, 2015. A ... more

Three steel girders to support the roof of the historic Barnum Museum in Bridgeport, Conn. are hoisted through a third floor window, while traffic below on Main Street is diverted on Friday, April, 17, 2015. A June 2010 tornado caused structural damage to the 1892 building, and tropical storms Irene and Sandy added mud and water to the collection of artifacts. less

Three steel girders to support the roof of the historic Barnum Museum in Bridgeport, Conn. are hoisted through a third floor window, while traffic below on Main Street is diverted on Friday, April, 17, 2015. A ... more

Three steel girders to support the roof of the historic Barnum Museum in Bridgeport, Conn. are hoisted through a third floor window, while traffic below on Main Street is diverted on Friday, April, 17, 2015. A June 2010 tornado caused structural damage to the 1892 building, and tropical storms Irene and Sandy added mud and water to the collection of artifacts.

Three steel girders to support the roof of the historic Barnum Museum in Bridgeport, Conn. are hoisted through a third floor window, while traffic below on Main Street is diverted on Friday, April, 17, 2015. A

Three steel girders to support the roof of the historic Barnum Museum in Bridgeport, Conn. are hoisted through a third floor window, while traffic below on Main Street is diverted on Friday, April, 17, 2015. A June 2010 tornado caused structural damage to the 1892 building, and tropical storms Irene and Sandy added mud and water to the collection of artifacts. less

Three steel girders to support the roof of the historic Barnum Museum in Bridgeport, Conn. are hoisted through a third floor window, while traffic below on Main Street is diverted on Friday, April, 17, 2015. A ... more

Barnum Museum Executive Director Kathy Maher was on site as three steel girders to support the roof of the historic museum were hoisted through a third floor window on Friday April, 17, 2015. Delivery of the structural steel was a key step forward in restoring and reopening the building after a June 2010 tornado caused structural damage to the 1892 building. less

Barnum Museum Executive Director Kathy Maher was on site as three steel girders to support the roof of the historic museum were hoisted through a third floor window on Friday April, 17, 2015. Delivery of the ... more

Barnum Museum Executive Director Kathy Maher was on site as three steel girders to support the roof of the historic museum were hoisted through a third floor window on Friday April, 17, 2015. Delivery of the structural steel was a key step forward in restoring and reopening the building after a June 2010 tornado caused structural damage to the 1892 building. less

Barnum Museum Executive Director Kathy Maher was on site as three steel girders to support the roof of the historic museum were hoisted through a third floor window on Friday April, 17, 2015. Delivery of the ... more

BRIDGEPORT -- Most property owners would faint if three large, heavy steel girders were brought in through an upstairs window and then lifted into the attic.

But something like that at the downtown Barnum Museum -- home of a real mummy, a fake mermaid and enough circus equipment to fill three Big Top rings -- was almost business as usual on Friday.

The museum has been mostly closed since a June 2010 tornado that whirled through downtown blew out the plate glass windows in the 1892 brownstone building, dumping glass, water, dust and mud into the main galleries.

A rear section that was added on years later survived the tornado and the two tropical storms -- Irene and Sandy -- that came after it. Executive director Kathy Maher and her staff work there, and several programs and events have been held in that space since the main museum closed.

But the delivery of the structural steel Friday morning was a key step forward in restoring and reopening the historic building, Maher said.

Two of the steel girders are 22 feet long each and weigh 12,054 pounds, museum publicist Kay Greaser said. The third is 12 feet long and weighs about 400 pounds, Greaser said.

"The steel girders won't be visible when the museum reopens," Maher said. "They are going from the third floor into the attic and will stabilize the entire eastern (roof) ridge."

The girders were designed by Kronenberger and Sons Restoration in Middletown and manufactured by Dyco Industries in South Windsor. Jim Norden is the historic restoration engineer for the Barnum Museum.

Much work needed to be done behind the scenes before restoration of the structure could begin, officials said. The museum's famed dome had shifted and some of the tornado's debris lodged in the bricks.

Broken windows sent water and mud into the main galleries, where items like Lavinia Warren's wedding dress and Tom Thumb's carriages shared space with a replica of the "FeeJee Mermaid,'' one of Barnum's earliest hoaxes that had a monkey's body sewn onto a fish tail.

A heavy load of snow imperiled the dome roof a few years ago. Maher has estimated the building will need between $17 million and $20 million in repairs. A $183,510 state grant and city funds helped pay for the structural work, including shoring up a brick wall. The museum has raised more than $1 million.

Although a formal reopening of the entire museum is still a number of years away, "we've been working tirelessly on grants, fundraising and the other support we need to get the work done," the executive director said.

"It's a pragmatic approach but it's being done right, and by the time we reopen it will be magical,'' she said. "It will be a museum that Barnum would be proud of."